Kolkata Knight Riders have settled on Saurabh Dubey as cover for the injured Akash Deep, a move confirmed by chief executive Venky Mysore during an intra-squad hit-out in Kolkata. The 28-year-old left-arm seamer from Vidarbha is uncapped in the IPL and, rather unusually, hasn’t featured in a competitive match since October 2023.
That lack of recent cricket didn’t put KKR off. Dubey caught the eye in last year’s Vidarbha Pro T20 League, bowling with decent pace and a touch of swing, and the numbers he returned for India at the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup – he was the tournament’s leading wicket-taker – still carry weight. His 11 senior appearances remain a thin sample, yet the franchise believes the variety of a left-armer is worth a punt.
Trials ran alongside KKR’s pre-season camp this week. Navdeep Saini, KM Asif, Simarjeet Singh, Akash Madhwal and Sandeep Warrier were also looked at, while the coaching group considered cover for Harshit Rana’s knee problem.
“Head coach Abhishek Nayar has done a great job lining up the potential options and bringing them over so that the coaches can see, be part of our training and practice games,” Mysore said. “Definitely the one who has caught everyone’s eyes is Saurabh Dubey, Vidarbha left-arm seamer, tall.”
The decision, Mysore added, was unanimous:
“The coaches were excited, called up and said, ‘this is who we would like to take as Akash Deep’s replacement.’”
Attention now turns to Matheesha Pathirana, another quick who is set to miss the season’s opening exchanges after the injury he picked up during the recent T20 World Cup. KKR are tentatively pencilling him in for mid-April.
“We’ve been constantly in touch with him and in touch with the board [SLC],” Mysore noted. “We want to do the right thing by the player. There is no intention on anyone’s part to rush this. All of these things take their time. Hopefully, fingers crossed, it won’t be too long.”
Akash Deep’s lower-back injury requires roughly a three-month rehabilitation block at the Centre of Excellence, ruling him out altogether. Rana’s knee is still under assessment.
Dubey will join a seam group that already features Pathirana (once fit), Blessing Muzarabani, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi and Umran Malik, with all-rounder Cameron Green offering additional overs. On paper it’s a plenty-quick attack, but only Muzarabani provides extra height and bounce; a left-arm angle should give captain Shreyas Iyer a different option in the powerplay or through the middle.
For Dubey it’s a second IPL chance – Sunrisers Hyderabad had picked him up in 2022 before injury intervened – and perhaps a timely one. Match fitness still needs proving, yet KKR feel the risk is balanced by potential upside. One way or another, he is likely to find out soon enough under the Eden Gardens lights.
